The present invention relates to bed frames, and, more particularly, to a support member that spans and thus interconnects the side rails of a bed frame.
In general, bed frames are comprised of a pair of generally parallel, spaced apart, side rails and one or more cross support members that span between the side rails in order to assemble and complete the bed frame structure. The bed frame, once assembled is adapted to support a box spring and a mattress to make up the bed itself.
Conventionally, with a bed frame, the side rails can be metal angle irons or wooden side rails and the cross or support members can be wooden slats or can be other structural components such as angle irons that are L-shaped and which have legs that extends downwardly from the angle irons to contact the floor in order to support the weight imposed on the support members by the presence of the box spring, mattress and, of course, an individual or individuals sleeping in the completed bed.
One of the difficulties, however, with the use of an L-shaped angle iron as the cross or support member is that the cross sectional profile of the L-shaped angle iron renders the member susceptible to a bending weakness, that is, for example, when the bed is slid along the floor, the leg supporting the support member and being dragged across the underlying floor can cause the support member to twist and the twisting action can damage an L-shaped angle iron support member that is not particularly resistant to such twisting action.
In addition, there is a bending action that is created by a downward force on the surface of an L-shaped support member tending to turn the L-shape into a downward V-shape and continued downward force tends to try to flatten that V-shape. Basically, the L-shape angle iron will twist away from the vertical flange, that is, the distal end of the horizontal flange will twist away from the vertical flange in the downward direction by the load imposed on the L-shaped angle iron. Thus, the problem with the use of an L-shaped angle iron is not limited to the possible bending caused by the leg being twisted by encountering a snag in a carpet as the leg extending downwardly from an L-shaped support member is moved across that carpet but also simply by the weight of the load imposed on the angle iron support member tending to twist that angle iron.
As a further problem, the conventional legs that extend downwardly from the angle iron support members are sometimes difficult to adjust to achieve the proper height of the support member from the floor. If the height of the leg is too long, the support member will bow upwardly and, if too short, the support member will bow downwardly. As such, it is important for the user to set the height of the leg correctly so that the support member is located at the proper height from the floor and it is also important to make that height adjustment easy to carry out by the user. With some current adjustable legs, the leg is threaded to a leg bracket such that the assembler must unscrew the leg to reach the desired length to contact the floor. There is a problem, however, as the unscrewing of the threaded leg is fairly time consuming to reach the desired position and there is no clear indication when the proper length o the leg has been reached and the threaded leg can be extended too far or not far enough for the proper support of the support member.
Also, the length of the support member must be adjustable so that the support member can be readily installed, for example, between wooden side rails, and be easy to affix the ends of the support member to those wooden side rails. For a wooden support member the solution is to simply saw the support member to the correct length, however there is an advantage in having a metal support member to eliminate the sawing process and the saw such that it is advantageous to have some adjustment system to allow the assembler to adjust the length of a metal support member to accommodate the varied widths between side rails.
It thus would be advantageous to have a support member for a bed frame that would be inexpensive to produce and yet which is sufficiently strong so as to resist twisting forces while supporting the box spring and mattress. In addition, it would be advantageous to have a leg assembly affixed to the support member that can be easily adjusted to achieve the proper height of the leg assembly to provide support to that support member by means of contact with the floor. It would be further advantageous if the support member had a length adjustment to allow it to be the proper length so as to be dimensionally affixed between two parallel side rails.